<p>My UW GPA is 3.85 without counting these four electives I was forced to take during freshman year at this South American HS in my native country. They weren't really electives for said school, but they are considered electives by my current school and they appear as electives on my transcript. Two of them are actually language courses (though not foreign to me, but native. I got a C and a D), the other one is called Ethics and the other one is called Work and Technology and I got a C for both of them. They literally ruin my GPA and I am left with a 3.35, or 3.38 tops (I predict 3.47 by the end of the first semester of freshman year). I had terrible teachers for these courses which is the reason I obtained such low grades. I was just wondering if Fordham like many other schools takes into consideration only core courses, or if they take into consideration ALL courses.
The GPA they publish as their average of accepted freshmen, is it counting only core courses or also electives?
Thank you!</p>
<p>I am not sure what their rules are, but I can tell you what I observed from my daughter’s transcript. Her weighted GPA was just over a 4.0, her school does not send in UW. I know for a FACT that Fordham has 3.6 as her formal GPA from HS. This means they took out most of her electives and, of course, Physical Education, which were all As. They DO count language courses, both in your native tongue and foreign ones as well. I am guessing that the Ethics and Work/Tech classes would not count, but those two language ones would. </p>
<p>Fordham looks at the whole student, not just your grades, so don’t let that stop you from applying. They are trying to be more diverse, so coming from a S. American country is a big plus. </p>
<p>I am unclear as to what year of high school you are presently taking/completing. </p>
<p>Generally, colleges wont punish you for poor grades in 9th grade IF you quickly recover and accelerate/improve continuously the remainder of your high school years. By the end of Junior year, you have the gpa they will see when you apply to colleges first semester of senior year. If you apply RD to some schools they will see first semester senior year grades. </p>
<p>Statements and recommendations from high school counselors explaining the situation, the improvements/maturity go a long ways to “forgiving” bad grades. </p>
<p>Conversely, if you have stellar grades for 2 years and then a set of poor grades Junior year, its looked upon very negatively by admissions counselors. Never a good idea to have a downward slope in gpa. </p>
<p>Fordham looks at the whole person. They look at which classes you took and what the grades are for each. I am inclined to think you wont get harmed from freshmen classes if you improve and if you take a rigorous college prep curriculum, you have stellar extracurriculars, recommendations, and a very good SAT score. </p>